Minnesota Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels addressed reporters during his exit press conference on Saturday, May 16, reflecting on the season and the team’s playoff exit, including their Western Conference semifinals loss to the San Antonio Spurs.
When asked to evaluate the campaign, McDaniels said, “our season was I mean we didn’t end up where we wanted to, but I’ll say it’s still a success just of all the stuff we went through, injuries, and just having the up and down season at certain parts, but I think it’s still successful and just getting our young guys ready as well like TJ [Terrence Shannon Jr.], Jaylen Clark, even Joan [Beringer] and all the younger guys just seeing us make this far and then having an impact with it.”
Against San Antonio, McDaniels pointed to the impact of Victor Wembanyama as a defining defensive challenge, stating, “Well, Wemby is just probably the greatest defender like I’ve ever played against. So, just him being so tall, so long, like it’s hard to get to the rim. But that’s pretty much the most part. I was able to get to my spots. But playing Wemby, he’s huge. He’s so tall. I mean, he’s the greatest defender I’ve ever played against. So, it just props to him.”
McDaniels also discussed his offensive development, especially in pick-and-roll situations alongside Rudy Gobert, noting, “Probably just being comfortable with the ball in my hand, playing pick and roll. I feel like I got super comfortable in the pick and roll with Rudy or whoever setting the screen just being aggressive and then just learning like where my spots are on the court like shooting my mid-range keeping it consistent of like how many threes or to mid-range or to drives that I do and just learning how to keep myself assertive in the game.”
On his shooting growth and floor spacing evolution, McDaniels added, “I would say just one to get better and like throughout the seasons like teams used to put big man on me cuz I wasn’t shooting threes that well. So like I kind of didn’t want that to happen anymore. So, just working super hard on making sure that my technique and stuff is right when I shoot threes and then just not falling in love with the three ball, knowing that I could still attack and like I have good touch at the rim and like in the mid-range area.”
He also emphasized consistency and team habits across the season, saying, “I’ll say probably just being consistent in like our habits and stuff we do, like if that’s being in rotation on defense or being into the ball or like just little things that we do during the season. And really just I feel like one thing we did well throughout the postseason and a regular season just staying together like through adversity or through teams runs.”
On offensive identity and spacing, McDaniels noted the importance of movement with teammate Naz Reid, stating, “I’ll say it for sure helps me and Naz a lot when the ball’s moving. It’s just I’ll say we’re just two unselfish players that like don’t matter if we get the ball or not like we’re still going to make something happen on the court.”
He also spoke about confidence handling the ball and potential ball-handling responsibilities, adding, “just knowing that I could be a second hand defender, I mean ball handler of just bringing the ball up and just getting into the offense. I mean our offense is pretty simple. So it’s not like too hard of stuff that we got to do and just I mean I’m confident and comfortable with the ball in my hand like with whoever’s guarding me.”
McDaniels closed by reflecting on personal growth across the season, stating, “I think I’ve grown a lot just of just of playing like going through droughts of not being able to shoot well or and then shooting well and just taking like the high praise and just not like I’ll say not letting it like get to my head a little bit.”
